Here Comes the Sun at Keystone

Ashley & Matt | September 14th | Keystone Resort

From the bride:We choose Keystone for a couple of reasons –Colorado was just too beautiful to not have it out here and we got engaged in a little café in Keystone last December so it had a special place in our hearts, and of course we love to ski.

I love green – It’s the perfect color for an Irish redhead – the bridesmaid’s dresses really captured this. I choose three different shades of green and the contrast looked amazing against the picturesque mountains.

I had a gorgeous brooch from my grandmother that she used to wear at her college dances wrapped around my bouquet.

My mom passed away February 2012, and I really wanted her to be a part of the day so I saved an empty seat for her in the first row with her favorite flower, a black eyed susan. I also had a close girlfriend embroider a black eyed susan inside my dress the morning of the wedding, so she was there with me. I had a special poem read by my aunt, her sister… it was sad, but it was us (my husband and I experienced her death together so we didn’t want to hide it).

It rained until around 4:30pm, the ceremony was to begin at 5pm, and literally when Keystone was about to move the ceremony inside the clouds parted and the sun shined so brightly (I just knew it was my Mom).

The backdrop could not have been more picturesque! To think it had just been down pouring, but once the sun came out, the sky was majestic, the mountains were breathtaking, and the hills a perfect color green.

I have never seen Matt smile so big, it was so heartwarming! After the I do’s, “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles played as guests cheered.

Matt and I are HUGE music fans (we even follow around a band called Widespread Panic so there was hints of music throughout). Matt has been to over 200 shows, and I’ve been to about 60. Our save the date cards were actual Ticketmaster tickets. For the guestbook, I took all his ticket stubs from over ten years and I made them into a collage and then took pictures of those ticket stubs and used that as the background for the guestbook.

I made the escort card holders by collecting lots and lots of wine corks, cutting them down the middle, and using that as the holder for the card.

Our favors were mountain peach flavored honey from Honeyville. The honey jars had little DIY tags that side “Love is Sweet”.

The centerpieces were logs filled with roses, amaranths, lavender, and dahlias with two simple candles on each side. Our table names were venues that Widespread Panic has played before: Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, The Georgia Theater, Louisville Palace, The Belly Up, Red Rocks, etc. The napkins had “All You Need is Love” written on them.

Matt and I never stopped dancing – our friends are definite party animals and the dance floor was NEVER empty! We also had a “crutch” limbo as one of our friends had a broken leg, but we used his equipment for a great purpose.

Looking Back: I would have had a videographer to capture the ceremony and the memorable toasts.

Honeymoon Location: We are honeymooning in St. Lucia at the end of January. We choose to delay because all our family was in from out of town so we took some time off during the wedding to be with them.